WITH autumn shearing - WA's main wool harvesting season - progressing well, bale test numbers for last month bettered test numbers for March last season.
It was the first time since October that in a monthly comparison of WA wool test numbers with corresponding months last season, the current season has come out in front.
But while Australian Wool Testing Authority (AWTA) tested more WA wool last month than in the previous March - 44,109 bales tested compared to 43,027 - the 2.5 per cent local increase paled into insignificance against corresponding bale test number increases in the Eastern States.
The number of bales tested in March in South Australia increased by 46.4pc when compared to March last year, according to AWTA.
Last year's March bale test numbers for SA and most other Eastern States were still significantly impacted by the flow-on impact of an extended period of drought, which had ended only a couple of months before.
Similarly, the number of bales tested in New South Wales increased by 43.7pc last month compared to the previous March.
In the first three months of last year AWTA tested more wool in WA than in NSW - a reversal of the usual situation and demonstrating the impact of the drought in the east.
So far this year, monthly wool test numbers in NSW have surpassed those in WA and both trail wool test numbers in Victoria - a return to situation normal.
In Victoria, where the drought had less impact on wool growing areas during the previous season, last month's wool tests increase was still 25.2pc, indicating how much better the current season is over east, compared to the previous season.
The national average increase in bale tests last month, compared to March last year, was 25.5pc.
Despite increased tests last month, so far this season the number of wool tests in WA trails the corresponding nine months last season by 10.8pc - the biggest wool testing deficit of any State, according to AWTA.
So far this season 260,752 bales have been tested in WA, compared to 292,476 in the same period last season - the continuing legacy of an estimated two million sheep leaving WA last season to bolster restocking in the Eastern States.
The national nine-month wool tests deficit is 1.2pc, with bale test numbers down 6.2pc in SA, down 1.4pc in Victoria, but up 4.8pc in NSW compared to the same period last season.
To the end of March, 149,216 bales have been tested so far this season in SA, 364,230 bales tested in NSW and 481,862 bales tested in Victoria.
The nine-month national total of wool tests is 1,309,740 bales.
Wool tests so far this season continue to show WA's wool is among the lowest yielding in Australia, with an average yield of 61.4pc and only Queensland wool averaging lower at 60.8pc.
The national average wool yield so far this season of 64.2pc is 1.5pc higher than the previous season.
With 67pc of the WA clip measuring 19.5 microns or less, the average WA wool is easily the finest in Australia, with a fibre diameter so far this season of 19.2 microns - the same as last season - and compared to the national average of 20.8 microns.
The average WA wool is also among the shortest at 87 millimetres - only Queensland wool is shorter at an average of 86.1mm so far this season - and has least strength at 30.4N/kt, compared to the national average of 33.8N/kt.
But, at 50.5pc average, WA wool has less critical midbreak than all other wools in Australia bar those from NSW with midbreak down to 47.1pc.
